Saint-Cloud Prix Corrida Tips & Betting Preview

A popular Group Two event named after the dual Arc winner Corrida who took Europe’s most prestigious middle distance event in the 1930’s. run since 1950 and for mares and fillies aged four or older, it used to be classed as Group Three but was upgraded in 2004 and has continued to attract decent fields ever since. Andre Fabre has won it five times now as has jockey Olivier Peslier, though sadly he is not riding this afternoon. James Fanshawe plundered the prize with 4/1 chance Speedy Boarding last year, and as we have a British challenger in 2017 the race is well worthy of a race preview here.

IN SUMMARY: Possibly not the strongest ever renewal but a tough one to call regardless. Rosental would have a solid chance at her best but the Cumani yard seem out of sorts while left Left Hand is the best horse but may struggle at the weights on this ground first time out. At the prices, it may be worth taking a chance on ARMANDE who will be race fit after a couple of placed efforts, handles the cut in the ground, and is Andre Fabre’s chosen representative from a long list of fillies he could have run as he looks for yet another win in this particular contest.

1 LEFT HAND – The class act here with two wins last season in the Group Three Prix Psyche Morocco Cup at Deauville over this sort of trip which she followed with a half length victory from Endless Time in the Group One Prix Vermeille when staying on strongly over the mile and a half. A below par effort followed in the Arc de Triomphe when twenty lengths adrift of Found, fading two out and she is clearly the best horse here, but may still struggle to give seven pounds away to the rest of this field on the softer surface.

2 ARMANDE – Represents Andre Fabre who has won this race on numerous occasions and has his string in great form with a 21% strike rate in the last fourteen days thanks to seven winners from just the thirty-four runners. The daughter of Sea The Stars has struggled to win lately with two second places this season, the first over this course and distance and the latest when a length and a quarter adrift of The Black Princess in the Group Three Prix Allez France at Chantilly last month. She will need a career best here but has to be seriously considered with fitness on her side.

3 THAT WHICH IS NOT – Three wins from seven starts suggests she has some talent but she was a neck behind Armande here in April and a length behind the same rival at Chantilly as well. She meets that contemporary on two pounds worse terms now and has plenty to find on form if she wants to get involved here. Entitled to challenge for the places perhaps but an unlikely winner for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard and jockey Stephane Pasquier.

4 HAGGLE – Formerly trained in Newmarket by Luca Cumani the daughter of Pivotal won a Newmarket maiden and placed four times at up to Listed level before moving to France where she is now in the care of Henri-Francois Devin. She looked a little one paced on her only try at this trip at Newmarket last October but is in good form after winning a Listed mile race at Chantilly last time out and with William Buick popping over to ride her for the first time, she could go well if getting home.

5 ROSENTAL – Luca Cumani is responsible for the sole British raider here and should have a good idea where he stands with Haggle who he used to train until March this year. As another daughter of Pivotal the softer ground may well be of some help this afternoon though she will need to do a bit better than her third (beaten five and a half lengths) behind Powder Snow when last seen in a Group Three at Toulouse, though to be fair she did not get the run of the race that day. On her best form she does have chances with the booking of Christophe Soumillon a bonus but the yard haven’t had a single winner from nineteen runners in the last wo weeks which has to be of some concern.

6 SAIMAA – Plenty to find on the form book having never won in Pattern class, but she does at least arrive here in good sorts after scoring at Fontainebleau last time out by a head in a Conditions race. This looks an awful lot stronger and even though the booking of Alexis Badel to ride suggests she may even be the Devin stable first string, the form book suggests others have much stronger claims.

7 GLADE – Zero winners from six recent runners has to be a worry for supporters of the Christophe Ferland trained daughter of Bertolini who defies her breeding with plenty of stamina and a solitary win over a mile and a half at Maisons-Lafitte from seven starts. She has had two runs this season with an eighth and a third at Toulouse over a mile and a quarter last time out and may well be forced to make the running here to try and draw out the finish from some of her speedier rivals.

8 REDCOLD – A winning filly with a course and distance victory in March, though that was a handicap and this is a very different kettle of fish. Her last run saw a below par five length fourth to Mokka on the Chantilly polytrack and the truth is she ought to be the outsider here and needs a lifetime best by some margin even to get in to the place money.